John Donne
A Hymn to Christ at the Author's Last Going into Germany
In what torn ship soever I embark, | |||||
That ship shall be my emblem of thy ark; | |||||
What sea soever swallow me, that flood | |||||
Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood; | |||||
5 | Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise | ||||
Thy face; yet through that mask I know those eyes, | |||||
Which, though they turn away sometimes, | |||||
They never will despise. | |||||
I sacrifice this island unto thee, | |||||
10 | And all whom I loved there, and who loved me; | ||||
When I have put our seas ’twixt them and me, | |||||
Put thou thy sea betwixt my sins and thee. | |||||
As the tree’s sap doth seek the root below | |||||
In winter, in my winter now I go, | |||||
15 | Where none but thee, th’eternal root | ||||
Of true love I may know. | |||||
Nor thou nor thy religion dost control, | |||||
The amorousness of an harmonious soul, | |||||
But thou wouldst have that love thyself; as thou | |||||
20 | Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now, | ||||
Thou lov’st not, till from loving more, thou free | |||||
My soul. Who ever gives, takes liberty; | |||||
O, if thou car’st not whom I love | |||||
Alas, thou lov’st not me. | |||||
25 | Seal then this bill of my divorce to all, | ||||
On whom those fainter beams of love did fall; | |||||
Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be | |||||
On fame, wit, hopes (false mistresses) to thee. | |||||
Churches are best for prayer that have least light; | |||||
30 | To see God only I go out of sight; | ||||
And to ’scape stormy days, I choose | |||||
An everlasting night. | |||||
Robert Clark